Batting collapse proves costly vs Spartans

View Scorecard

BICC made our first trip to Empuriabrava and was surprised to see something magnificent at the ground. GRASS! With a constant rain of skydivers in the background it was quite a nice ground to be at.
Sid won the toss and decided to try our luck with the bat. Maroof and Burhan opened the batting and managed to scratch together 16 before Burhan was caught and bowled in the fourth over. That brought Umer to the crease, who was looking good with a lovely six over long on, before he was trapped in front for 6. Anish came in and was dealt the same fate leaving BICC 3/29 in the seventh. Maroof, who had been batting well, tried to clear the infield but was caught. Damien retired hurt at the end of the same over bringing Hamza and Jack to the crease. They had our longest partnership in the middle ( 5 overs ) before Hamza was also caught. Much like Umi, Sid came in, cleared the boundary, and was bowled leaving the scorecard 6/66. Oscar and Tommy were dealt the same treatment followed shortly after by Bruce, being caught in the covers which left Roses a mere 75 for victory.
Roses came in with the intention of wrapping up the game in five overs but Tommy and Sid had other ideas. Tommy picked up their opener with his third ball as superdad Anish took a calm and collected catch in the deep. Not to be outdone, Sid also took a wicket with his third ball, luring a batsman out while Jack quickly removed the bails in a very tight call which fell in our favour. Tommy picked up another wicket with his eighth ball in similar fashion to the first wicket with Anish taking another nice catch on the run in the deep and a bit of belief was creeping into the hearts of the BICC faithful. 
Sid made the opposition dance to one of his world famous moon balls and the batsman seemed to have no choice but play at it a few steps out of his crease and popped an easy catch to Damien at slip and they were 4/37.
Roses then put on 19 more before the Tommy-Anish combination pulled another victim. Umi chimed in with a nice catch from Bruce (with a look of surprise on his face) but that was the end of the wickets as Roses chased down the below par total. A few tough catches went down but it was a great bowling and fielding performance. Unfortunately more runs were needed on the board to trouble one of the top teams. BICC are still struggling with the bat with only one player reaching double figures (Maroof) but there is one more opportunity at the end of the month.
In usual BICC style we went for a feed and a drink together after the game for a laugh and to discuss the what might have beens before heading back to Barcelona.

Damien McMullen